


some midnight word

by junkverse



Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: Ficlet, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Post Game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-15
Updated: 2017-09-15
Packaged: 2018-12-30 03:40:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12099906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/junkverse/pseuds/junkverse
Summary: Neku hears something he wasn't meant to.





	some midnight word

**Author's Note:**

> a small-ish fic, from a Tumblr prompt: "things you said I wasn't meant to hear."
> 
> For Ven.

Here was the thing about Joshua -as far as Neku could tell, he didn’t sleep.

Like. Sometimes he would come over, when Neku was home from class and he would chill or play video games or eat some of Neku’s food and generally act a bit like if a cat had a human form and also god powers, but he didn’t, y’know. Nap, or anything?

Neku had asked about this, once, when Joshua first started coming over and had announced he was staying the night. (“You could at least say _please_ or something first,” Neku had grumbled before going into the linen closet to get another pillow.)

“Don’t you need to?”

“Mm. Not really?” Joshua had shrugged. “I think I’ve passed out once or twice, but it’s… not the same. It wasn’t because I was tired.”

There was a story there, but Neku’s thoughts had shied away from what it might be, tremulous before the idea of what in the world could’ve knocked Joshua out.

“So… what do you plan on doing while I’m sleeping?”

“I dunno. Watching you?”

Joshua had laughed, light and airy, at Neku’s sputtering.

As far as Neku could tell, Joshua mostly just. Stayed up, playing Neku’s games or messing around on his phone or writing something down in a notebook he sometimes brought with him. And it should’ve been weird, having Joshua just sitting around in his room, doing almost nothing, but it was instead oddly comforting. There was something reassuring about drifting off to Joshua going through some dungeon, and waking up to him still there, finishing up and stretching from his place at the foot of Neku’s bed. (No matter what, Joshua always waited until Neku was at least marginally awake to leave, his goodbye often as simple as a quiet nod.) It was good to have some confirmation that Neku wasn’t dreaming his visits.

But one time it didn’t quite go like that.

Neku normally slept pretty soundly, but this night in particular had been rough -drifting in and out of wakefulness every half hour or so. He’d been lulled back every time by the sight of Joshua perched in front of Neku’s small, hand-me-down TV, dozing to little snatches of some game about teenagers solving mysteries via punching.

Until he woke, and the game was on the main menu, and Joshua wasn’t in front of it. He frowned, glancing around the room lit only by the TV, and finding nothing. Then he heard it.

“I’m sorry.”

Neku froze. The words were quiet, a whisper so faint that he might’ve imagined it, but there was no mistaking that voice. He turned towards it, and saw Joshua sitting on the floor beside his bed, Joshua’s back pressed against the edge of the mattress.

“I’m sorry,” Joshua said, again, his voice thick and choked. Neku couldn’t see his face, with the gloom of the night and Joshua’s head turned away, but he could see how Joshua was folded in on himself, how he trembled.

For an agonizing moment Neku was frozen, watching Joshua curled in on himself, holding in some sort of sorrow. And then he swallowed, reached out, and touched Joshua’s shoulder.

Immediately Joshua froze, his entire form rigid. Neither of them seemed to breathe.

“Neku,” Joshua eventually said, voice uncharacteristically thin, “I-”

“It’s okay,” Neku said. “C’mere.”

And for a long second Joshua seemed like he would bolt, jump up and just fly right out Neku’s window. But instead he slowly unfolded himself, got up, and crawled onto Neku’s bed, pressing himself against Neku’s side. Neku wrapped his arms around Joshua’s shoulders, tight enough to keep him close, but loose enough that Joshua could wriggle away if he wanted to. Eventually Joshua relaxed, his barely held back trembling smoothing out. Neku drifted off.

When he woke, Joshua was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> Been in this fandom ten damn years and this is the first fic I've written for it, incredible.
> 
> (can _you_ spot the teeny Persona 3 nod)
> 
> anyway! feedback is appreciated, and thanks for reading.
> 
> (you can also find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/junkverse))


End file.
